The Midnight Hour.

I do all my writing in the dead of night, while I'm waiting for 5 o clock to roll around so I can finnaly find rest. It started when I would stay up really late out in my sleep out, when I was about 11yrs, it got worse latter on when I started to hate school. I dreaded the idea of going to sleep and then imidiately having to go to school when I woke. So I began to enjoy it, I didn't know it was a syndrome back then. I stayed up latter and latter, just enjoying the time alone, the calm before the storm which was school. There are sometimes, if I have been thinking too much or getting too involved in my novel, when I can't sleep at all. Last night I switched off the lights at 4:20am and closed my eyes, I got up and started writing again at about 7am, I couldn't beleave how fast the time flew by. I'm thinking of going to sleep after I post this story, but although I'm tired, I don't feel at all like sleeping. It's 11:50am over here.

And this isn't a disorder it's a syndrome. I'm not being pedantic I just don't think of it as something that needs to be corrected. Not anymore at least.

I get sleepy around 1030pm then my second wind kicks in because if I go to sleep at 1030 I'll be right back up in 20 minutes mad. So most mornings I fall asleep at 430am and wake up at 10am to walk my dog but I'm not rested so I go back to sleep waking up every hour until 2pm and most of the day is gone for everyone else and trying to make it to appointments...forget about it. I don't go to sleep until my fiancé is out the door to work and I'm worried he thinks I'm lazy, but I'm not. Y'all understand right?

I all the sudden feel that way! The heck with trying to fight it! Im going to use the time now to be productive instead of wasting all that time trying to sleep , knowing night after night its not happening!

i too only found out about this last night, ive had sleeping problems for the past 4 years, at first it was just that i wouldnt sleep, but 2 years later i developed a major drug addiction to methadrone spending upto 5 nights awake. this led me to fail 6th form meaning i could continue this night time routine. i then got a job working in a kitchen doing finishes from 6pm - 12pm, sometimes 1pm. after this i feel it difficult to sleep leading to me staying up till around 5 or 6 am. now that i am back at college, it is increasingly difficult to work the night then not sleep most of the night to go to college in the morning. my mum doesnt believe me that i have this, and is convinced that im just lazy, and i started to believe it until i discovered the syndrome last night. what can do to try and adapt this? i smoke cannabis and it helps abit in getting me to sleep an hour or 2 earlier, but i really cannot keep doing this everyday...

This is very helpful to read all of the stories here for the sake of understanding. However, I am frustrated and discouraged that there will never be a solution for this problem for me. I am actually sitting in the lobby of the sleep lab where I just "Failed" a sleep test because I could not fall asleep at the right periods of time. I laid in bed for 2 to 3 hours trying to fall asleep. I am 32 years old and this has been a problem since as long as I can remember.I attribute my failure at the US Air Force Academy, numerous failed jobs, and failed interviews to this disorder. My normal sleep pattern seems to be from 4/6am to 12/2pm. I am totally frustrated and don't know what to do. I have adopted the restaurant and nightclub business as a crutch career but am sick and tired of not being able to "consistently" function on the normal schedule. My fears after reading further into this is that I will always be like this. I still find it hard to start my day between noon and 2 pm! I choose sleep over depression, anxiety, and agitation. However, I then become anxious over my missed appointments, and seemingly infinite inability to get on with life. This is tough. I wish there was some kind of answer out there. At times I think I'm bi-polar, chronically depressed, or just incapable.

It's not you we're all like this and I'd rather get use to life like this then being on all kinds of meds that don't work. I've been down that road and it's not pretty because then you're tired all the time with no relief or you have to take more meds for the side effects of those meds and it's a vicious cycle.

Im so excited to have found out what is wrong with me.. I have been called lazy, unmotivated.. well you have all heard them before so I wont go on. But, man I am happy to have found out what is wrong. Several of you have said there is no cure, is this true? I was hoping to someday be "normal". I told my sister who is my largest critic as of late, she said yep thats you. : ) Now when I told her I got up at 12:30 pm today after going to sleep at 4:30 am she didnt screech at me. Now to convince my parents who are elderly and dont understand these ailments, syndromes,disorders. Pull up your boot straps kinda people. <br />Anyway, is there a chat room for us? I sure would like someone to talk to once in awhile after others go to bed. <br />I just am sooo happy LOL . Im not lazy, I do alot at night.. I would do more if it wouldnt upset my neighbors.. Now I sleep at about 4-5 am and dont feel guilty about it. I wake up happier instead of the guilt placed on me over the years. <br />Whoever, started this blog thing.. Thank you : )<br /><br />Kate

Could not fall asleep when everyone else did but stayed awake until 2 or 3 am. Did not do well in school, because I was always tired. Worked and was always exhausted and not competent. Had kids and got even more exhausted. Had I realized I had dsps I would have had children. As I age, my hours slip foward. I will switch between 5 am and 1 pm or 7 am to 3 pm. Need to sleep 8 hours or feel bad. Once I do sleep my full eight, I feel pretty good and energetic and can get stuff done no problem. People tell me to stay awake all day and try to go to sleep, etc...Nothing works. My body has it's own design and sleeps when it is ready. Pills do not work. One gave me severe headaches, another heart palpitations. Meltonin does not help either.

Luvmahbed, I love ur name. So glad u & ur girlfriend are compatible phase-wise. As for hesitating about kids, let me say this. Somehow, you make it work. If you end up utterly unable to twist ur hours to put the kids thru their "daily" paces, then consider home school on your schedule and help the kids compensate socially in other ways. We consider it. Dang, every time the alarm goes off ten minutes after I fell asleep, I consider it. But I think the answer isn't foregoing kids, it's making the world fit us, too. There are a LOT of people working third shift who have kids. Is the idea of night elementary school really so odd? Hmmmmm

SleepyMom is totally right. I have had this syndrome for nearly 30 years and I only found out yesterday that there is a name for it. I suffered at school and university having to work through absolute exhaustion to attend lessons and lectures. Then came 9 to 5 office jobs where I would often get caught dozing off at my desk. My solution has been to go freelance and work to deadlines, so it doesn't really matter when I do the work just as long as it is finished on time. i still have massive problems dealing with 9-5 chores (that have to be done during the day) but my life would be a whole lot worse if it wasn't for the internet. My girlfriend also has a milder form of the syndrome - so that works - but we are thinking twice about having kids for the reasons SleepyMom outlines. Anyway, to be honest I am just happy that this syndrome is recognised 'cos I'm sick of having to watch people's faces drop when I tell them what time I got up today, knowing that they think I am the laziest person to walk the earth!

Hi all. I just realized there was activity happening in here. The thing about DSPD is that of COURSE our sleep pattern feels natural. Of course we feel it's a habit. Of course we enjoy the quiet hours; these are the times we are most alert, most creative, most ALIVE! Because it is within our ability to shut off the light and go to bed any time we choose, we therefore feel like it's all just a preference (like Coke over 7-up). To know you have DSPD, ask these questions of yourself: Do I do this despite having obligations that require I sleep at night? Do I consistently feel healthier and happier living as a "night owl"? When the 7 am alarm goes off, are you appalled? Had you just gotten to sleep? On a day when you got only a couple hours sleep and were awake all day, do you then fall into bed at 10pm and sleep all night, or so you stay awake all night again, with no problem until the 7 am alarm? Do you do that a lot? Have you got a lot of history of problems with school, jobs, family, social life, all because you can't get your butt in & out of bed the same time as other people? Have you tried, over and over, to change your "habits" and you just keep failing? ... Folks, you have DSPD. It's real. And your answer to the "early birds" who criticize you is this: if they were told they had to go to bed at 10 a.m. & get up at 6 pm and be awake & alert & entirely functional all night, could they? Sure they could do it once. They could do it for a week. What about for the rest of their lives? Would it feel natural? Would they hate it? On weekends, would they take advantage and "sleep in" at night? If a doctor they had to see only saw people from 10 pm to 6 am, would they dread having to make the appointment? ... If you "night owls" can adjust your lifestyle to fit your phase, wonderful! But if you suffer because your career and obligations require you to function as a "daytimer" and you -- and they -- struggle and suffer for it, THEN you realize it's more than just a preference; it's a problem -- a severe problem. I worked at home, writing and designing all night, and did very well -- until I had kids. They have to go to school and events and live a life in the daylight. Argh! And you know what's worse? THEY are night owls, too. Too bad there is no night school for little kids. Sorry for the length of this; after 45 years of dealing with the fallout, I'm passionate in our defense. Good luck, y'all.

I've had DSPS for quite a few years now. Probably started when I was about 13-14. Usually I can't fall asleep until some time after 3am. I've tried melatonin pills prescribed to me by a neurologist. They didn't work. But in a way I enjoy it as well. I write my best late at night, and I hate mornings anyways. I love being able to stay up and watch the sky all night because I'm simply not tired. I suppose the only downside it having to wake up early anyways for school. & there's been plenty of nights during which I pulled all nighters. It's definitly taken it's toll on my grades, but I figure I might as well learn to deal. It's not easily rid.

That's what I said. At first I thought maybe I was just reaching for anything, take a few symptoms and applying them to me. I had heard that that happens alot, but then I realised that I was in trouble.

I join the club as well. I'm sure I would have gotten dramatically better grades during high school if I hadn't been so tired all the time. Staying up late really is an incarnated habbit for me as well. Going to be early feels strange to me. There's always something I want to do instead, like you describe.

Ha I join the club in that case. Okay, I'll see if I can stop it by going bit by bit. You're right - it feels similar to a habit to me. It's just that I keep doing it.<br /><br />...so I just looked it up, and it does sound exactly like my sleep pattern. I hadn't heard of it till now. It has been messing my day schedule about since I don't know when. I don't remember when I last slept normally. <br />"schools rarely tolerate chronically late, absent, or sleepy students and fail to see them as having a chronic illness." - that's me :(

Musicspirit, unfortunately you have it. At first I thought that it was a habit that I had to get out of but then I couldn't. Maybe if you stop now it will go away, otherwise your facing a life long affliction.<br /><br />And lilycue, weed is in my opinion the only cure, but it always makes me sleep for way longer and leaves me exhausted in the morning, but it does feel good to get out of my head every once and a while.

I'm not as bad as you, but I do a similar thing. I purposefully stay up late. It's not insomnia. I'm not doing it so much anymore because it's having an adverse effect on my school work; but I'm finding it hard to accustom myself with a more "normal" sleeping pattern now because my body is so used to staying up till 4:00am. So I go on EP.<br /><br />I started doing it for several reasons. Like you, it was the dread of facing school for yet another day. The "sleeping hours" are peaceful because I have time to myself for once and I have space to think. Ideas come to the surface that would have been pushed away in the day time.

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